


Idle Time

by Estelathan



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), Thor (Movies)
Genre: Boredom, Gen, Hulk Smash, Slight character injury
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-06
Updated: 2015-07-06
Packaged: 2018-04-07 21:42:28
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,254
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4278942
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Estelathan/pseuds/Estelathan
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When Loki gets bored it's up to the Avengers to entertain him. . .</p>
            </blockquote>





	Idle Time

 

 

"What the hell happened? Anyone? Anyone? I thought tall, dark, and crazy was supposed to have turned over a new leaf not be out attacking downtown! Who pissed him off this time? Clint?" Tony snarked as he flew through the rubble remains of what had once been an impressive skyscraper. They really should have seen this one coming, Tony thought as he surveyed the damage below him. After two months of relative peace following the weirdest peace talks Tony had ever heard, and thanked god every day that kind of stuff was Cap's problem as leader and not his, one was bound to come to the conclusion that Loki would be the first to break it. _'The God of Lies'_ Tony reminded himself with a shake of his head. Still, they should have seen this one coming. . .  
  
"Why am I always getting the blame for the crap Lok--" **BOOOOOM!** Clint's petulant response was cut off by the sounds of an explosion rocking through the area and across the Avenger's comm-line. What had once been perfectly normal roadway where Clint had been before was now a smoking hole of dust and debris. "Mnn-ugh.." Clint groaned as he slowly rolled himself over onto his back. "Did anyone get the number of that train?"  
  
"Can we just focus on the problem here?" There was always-focused-on-the-mission Cap, grunting as he dodged a large piece of asphalt flying in his direction as he made his way towards Clint. "Who cares why he's doing it- Clint, you holding up? We need to get Loki to stop!"  
  
"Leave my brother to me!" Thor declared as he circled the battlefield in search of his brother in question. High in the sky thunder boomed and lightening flashed as he surveyed the battlefield. Spread out below him were the rest of the Avengers- scattered to the winds amongst the dust and rubble of what had once been several blocks and numerous buildings and in the middle of all of it was none other than Loki.  
  
Standing in the middle of a large crater, Loki stood with arms upraised with green energy swirling around his fingers. He looked manic; his head was tossed back, his hair whipping in the wind as magic poured forth from his fingers. It spread out from him in twisting tendrils, upraising asphalt and dust overturned cars and debris and sent it flying. Loki laughed, obviously gleeful as he watched the destruction carry on around him.  
  
It would have been heartening to see Loki in such high spirits if it hadn't been for the circumstances, Thor reflected before he shook his head of the notion. There would be time to contemplate later- right now he needed to stop Loki. "Brother!" Thor boomed as he swooped in closer, "Cease this madness at once and surrender!"  
  
For his part Loki seemed unsurprised, and unimpressed, to see Thor coming at him. Turning, with the gleeful grin still firmly in place he waved and promptly disappeared in a thick cloud of emerald green smoke.  
  
"Brother! Wait!" Thor called out as he landed on the edge of the crater. Growling low in his throat, he tightened his grip upon his hammer and made to move towards the green smoke but was pulled up short by Iron Man landing beside him, jabbering excitedly. "Loki you little shit! Did everyone see that? He just poofed into thin air! Jarvis scan the-- what the hell _is_ that?" Tony trailed off as he stared, dumbfounded, at the rising column of green smoke before him and Thor. "Am I crazy? Nobody answer that! Is anyone else seeing this? That someone can answer.."  
  
Sadly for Tony, before anyone else could reply the smoke column expanded outward, sending smoke wafting in every directions. It sunk low, creeping along the ground like an unnatural fast-moving fog only to rise up and swallow everything, including the Avengers, in its noxious embrace. From high above the fallen team, obscured by the smoke came the low, sinister sounds of Loki’s laughter. . .

  
  
Time passed.

  
  
Eventually Steve was the first to recover. Slowly staggering to his feet from where he’d fallen he blinked and rubbed as his eyes as he tried to focus through the remains of the fog. “I-is ev-everyone alright?” He coughed, “Status report. Clint? Nat? Tony?”  
  
For a few tense seconds there was nothing but silence that greeted the Captain until suddenly a groggy stream of Russian curses filled his ears. Natasha. Steve let out a breath he didn’t know he had been holding, exhaling in relief.  
  
“Can you repeat that? Not everyone can speak Russian you know!” Tony groaned as he pushed his way into a sitting position. “Jarvis what the hell was that stuff? You didn’t tell us tall, dark and completely whacked knew how to make knock-out gas, Thor! How about a heads up next time? Thor? Buddy?” Instead of a booming reply silence greeted Stark as he turned, looking through blurry screens at the area surrounding him. There was nothing there. Flipping open his faceplate, Tony couldn’t help but gape- the smoke had all but cleared but aside from himself, and the crater, there was nothing there. Thor was gone. Tony got to his feet, distantly aware of Cap’s voice over the comm confirming that Clint and Banner were found unharmed and unconscious, as he surveyed the area. Where could Thor have gone?

 

  
~

 

  
  
The first thing Thor became aware of was a great pounding in his temples despite being unable to recall just what had caused it in the first place. What had happened? His eyelids felt heavy as he dragged them open to find himself . . . smack dab in the middle of nowhere. Thor groaned as he pushed his way into a sitting position, one hand raising to connect with his throbbing head and the still-bleeding cut centered above his left eye. He was indeed far from civilization at the very least- nothing but rocks and scrub brush and endless sky stretched out for as far as he could see through blurry eyes. It was confounding to wake in such a manner, and the pounding through his skull was not helping matters at all. How had he gotten here?  
  
The question answered itself a moment later as the wind shifted at Thor’s back and his hackles with it. There was the familiar, nagging sensation that he was no longer alone and it was enough to encourage him to his feet. As the blonde god pushed his way to standing he was surprised to see Loki standing a few feet away, watching him with wary eyes and suddenly everything clicked back into place: Loki had been laying down a swath of destruction when Thor and the others had gone to stop him. Reflexively one hand reached down to grasp Mjolnir which was thankfully still attached to his belt as he regarded his brother.  “Loki. . . Brother. .” Thor started forward, his free hand outreached towards the other.  
  
“Don’t call me that! I am not your brother!” Loki snapped in irritation, backing up a few steps as Thor advanced. “Just stop right there Thor. Don’t come any closer!” The wind tugged at his hair, whipping it back from his face as he glared at Thor.  
  
Thor stopped where he was, his arm faltering before it finally fell back at his side as he regarded Loki. “Why have you brought us here?” He eyed the landscape surrounding them, keeping Loki’s form in the corner of his eye as he did so. “What foul purpose are you up to this time?” He growled in warning; he wasn’t in the mood for games.  
  
Loki, to his credit, crossed his arms over his chest and snorted. “Foul purpose? Really Thor, is that the best you could come up with?” He drawled, sounding bored. “Would you believe I wanted some quality time as the Midgardians put it?” He tilted his head to the side, unable to suppress the smirk tugging at his lips.  
  
By the Norns- He had to be kidding him! Thor turned away from the landscape to shoot Loki a disbelieving look. Quality time? Since when anytime in the last century had Loki willingly wanted to spend quality time? There had been a time years ago when Thor would have relished hearing such a thing coming from his brother and despite the small part of him that was now overjoyed to hear it, Thor couldn’t help but be on his guard. “I would not,” He said simply, watching Loki closely. “You have never been the one to seek out time from me before. Why would you start now?”  
  
Loki laughed, obviously delighted. “Not as gullible as you once were then! So be it!” Green magic swirled around him and suddenly there were half a dozen perfect copies of him surrounding Thor, each holding wicked looking daggers. “Perhaps I brought you here to meet your doom!” Loki declared as he and his clones advanced upon Thor.  
  
Now this was more like it. Thor matched Loki’s knowing smirk with one of his own as he raised Mjolnir for attack. “Try as you might my doom will not fall at your hands!” This was a familiar dance, one they had been through many times over the years and it did not take long before the clones were flickering out one by one under the weight of Thor’s attacks.  
  
Finally Loki skittered back out of range, laughing breathlessly as he panted for air. He doubled over, arms wrapping about his middle as he regained his breath. “You’ve learned,” He gasped out, the hint of a shark smile on his face as he regarded Thor across the distance.  
  
Loki may have come to a stop but Thor was hardly fooled. Loki was never as weak as he pretended to be, it was all for show, and therefore Thor kept both eyes firmly fixed upon the Trickster as he waited for Loki’s next move. He didn’t have long to wait; thick green smoke came wafting across the ground towards him and the last thing Thor became aware of as it swallowed him in its noxious embrace was the harsh sounds of Loki’s laughter.  
  
When Thor came to once more he found himself nearly hanging off the edge of a high building mere blocks away from where he had landed in the first place if the damage below was any indication to go by. As he got back to his feet Thor was surprised to see Loki at the edge of the building. Thor glared at him through slitted eyes, blinking past the blood that was dripping freely from his brow. “Why would you do this?” He asked, waving one arm to encompass the destroyed city block below them. His breath came in harsh, exhausted pants as he waited.  
  
Loki smirked, breathing harshly through his nose and for a long moment said nothing. He was bent near double, his hands pressed against his knees to steady himself. Finally he rose, slowly, to his full height and pretended to give his previous destruction an once-over before his attention focused back onto his so-declared ‘brother’. For a moment he simply stared, letting the smirk grow, before he finally shrugged. “It was fun.” He rasped, sounding smug.  
  
“Fun?” The deep, growled question hadn’t come from Thor’s direction as he anticipated. Loki only had the time to swing around before the world was abruptly turned upside down and was confronted with the Hulk’s growling, decidedly unhappy expression before the world descended into a bright burst of flying bricks and endless pain.  
  
“You’d think he would have learned his lesson about pissing of Hulk the first time around!” Tony sniggered as he landed on the rooftop beside Thor to finish watching the show. “I didn’t take Loki for the typed that liked pain but geez…”  
  
“Loki has ever been the one who learns some lessons the hard way.” Thor sighed, glancing at Tony before looking back across the roof where the Hulk had stopped smashing Loki into the roofing and was now watching him warily. “I hold out hope that someday he will finally learn his lesson without the pain, though I believe this time he merely was bored.”  
  
“Whoa! Bored? You’ve gotta be kidding me!” Tony couldn’t help but yelp in surprise, flipping his faceplate open and turning to stare at Thor as though he’d lost his mind. Above them the shadow of the Quinjet circled overhead signaling the others arrival. “You’re saying he destroyed the whole downtown district because he was _bored_?”  
  
Thor shrugged, looking perplexed in the face of Tony’s disbelief. “I do not know why you seem so appalled; my brother has done far worse in the past when he has been bored.” Reaching out, he thumped Tony good-naturedly on the shoulder. “Fear not friend Tony! It will be a while before Loki becomes bored once more and when he does we’ll be ready!” With that he was gone, heading in the direction of where the others were landing.  
  
Well shit, what did you say to something like that? Tony gaped at Thor’s retreating back for a moment before finally shrugging himself. If Thor wasn’t worrying about it he wasn’t going to either. Besides, Thor was right- after being Hulk smashed a couple of times Tony was willing to bet Loki wasn’t going to be in the mood to cause mischief any time soon . . . and when he did the Avengers would be waiting for him. Flipping down his faceplate he headed to meet up with the others.


End file.
